Kinding feeling like at this point hopefully the cap will go down after the new CBA is worked out and other teams will be forced to get rid of some decent players that we can in turn hopefully pick up.

As someone pointed out already, Weber should have waited to become an UFA instead of signing this offer sheet. I can only assume he would get more money as a free agent and with the length of this offer sheet he'll be playing for less than he's worth for the majority of his career.

For everyone worried that the Wings now never have a shot at Weber: How many players have stayed in Philly over the last 5 years, let alone 14?

I bet Weber was thinking about the CBA. He could potentially get LESS money if he waited and there are radical changes.

A couple points. I know the first one comes off as arrogant but whatever. I think Nashville fans have been shown their place in the NHL pecking order over the last month. It's not a destination for players. It is a place where guys go until they are ready to go make serious money elsewhere. Nashville may well match Philly's offer but once Weber signed it it was clear he too wanted out of Smashville.

Next point, where does the Preds franchise go from here? Their two top players courted, one gone already and another perhaps days away from leaving. Their fan favorite and energy guy signs with a rival. Not a lot to draw the locals. An NHL franchise has always been iffy in Nashville, they collect mounds of revenue sharing cash, Bettman had to overstep the bounds of decency to keep them in Nashville. I just can't see where this offseason does anything but "retards" (And don't get up in arms over that word it is being used properly here) their growth, growth they felt was putting them up there with the NHL big boys. Alas, the Preds get to stay at the kids table for the next few Thanksgivings.

If you want to get him out of Nashville, this is how you try to do it. No point in even submitting an offer sheet if you make it easy for the other club to match. They've got to be massive, front-loaded deals to force the hand of lower-revenue, small-market teams.

If Weber ends up in Philly and gets the C does he assume the kiss of death Lindros, Primeau, and Pronger all have with careers ended via concussions? Hes already had 2 ... one or two more good bell ringers and he could be counting to potatoe as well. Just saying.

I didn't even think about that but you're right. I wouldn't touch the C in Philly with a ten foot pole if I were him!

We all know that Preds will match this offer sheet, so that is not the point. But Weber would easily be worth 4 first round picks in my opinion. It is not like the Red Wings have a fantastic draft record for defensemen taken in the first round the past 20 years -and it is not like they aren't trying. Detroit used 8 of 10 possible picks on defensemen and traded ten 1st picks (in 97, 99, 01, 02, 03, 04, 06, 09, 11 and 12). The exceptions are McCollum in 08 and Sheahan in 10.

Hold on a sec. Weber's definitely worth 4 Detroit 1st rounders if we're talking the past. BUT with Lidstrom gone and our superstars all getting older we can't assume the future will be paved in low 20's draft positions.

Hold on a sec. Weber's definitely worth 4 Detroit 1st rounders if we're talking the past. BUT with Lidstrom gone and our superstars all getting older we can't assume the future will be paved in low 20's draft positions.

I wouldn't say top 10 draft picks are pure gold either...A fair number of teams have had busts.

"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!" - Kierkegaard

Kinding feeling like at this point hopefully the cap will go down after the new CBA is worked out and other teams will be forced to get rid of some decent players that we can in turn hopefully pick up.

I'd be surprised if the cap didn't go down with the new CBA. At this point it's a safe bet that the cap floor will drop so I wouldn't be surprised if they rework the cap/revenue formula.

13 million which is signing bonus, protected from rollbacks...he made the right choice to sign this now. It won't exist in 3 months.

That's the key point here. I agree with others that said this contract could be a powderkeg.

I wouldn't say top 10 draft picks are pure gold either...A fair number of teams have had busts.

True BUT imagine the Pens, Caps, Blackhawks, Oilers or other teams if you chopped 4 select years of 1sts out of their line ups. In each of those cases you could completely destroy the tank-to-win models of those franchises by removing those 4 years of 1st rounders.

That contract is outrageous. If the new CBA doesn't fix this soon, we'll be treading baseball contracts soon. Honestly who thinks paying for one guy like that will be good for them? They won't be able to afford anyone else to help him! I wouldn't have signed it, but maybe it's just the almighty dollar working its evil again. I remember when we fought for the cup, not a $...